Beauty And Belief

Two Tiffany windows — Tiffany glass windows (1905) featuring a sunrise in a forest in springtime and an autumn sunset, in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum (Wikimedia Commons public domain)

I’ve had a busy few days. That’s why I’m a bit behind on my regular blogging.

Among the high points, though: On Wednesday, my wife and I enjoyed an evening performance — of his music, in an autobiographical vein — with the film and musical theater composer Alan Mencken. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Holy of Holies, Salt Lake Temple — A 1910 photograph of a Louis Tiffany window of the First Vision, located in the Holy of Holies of the Salt Lake Temple (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

And last night, while I had tickets to see a film performance of Hamlet featuring Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role, I ended up participating in a dinner with the major BYU donors in the University’s Museum of Art. (My wife went to Hamlet with one of our sons.) It was fun to chat again with a lot of people that I knew, to meet several new people, and to hear a performance by the BYU Chamber Orchestra under the baton of my old Switzerland Zürich Mission assistant zone leader, Professor Cory Katseanes, and to listen to remarks from Dr. Mark Magleby, the director of the Museum (whom I also consider a friend).

Before the dinner, another friend and I were able to spend time in the Museum’s superb exhibit of Tiffany glass, which will be there into May. I am, I have to admit, a passionate admirer of the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany — since the first time I saw any of it — and I commend the exhibit to anybody and everybody who will be in the area over the next month or two. Don’t miss it. (It’s free!)

Salt Lake Temple Tiffany window — A Tiffany glass window in the Salt Lake Temple depicting the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Unfortunately, I don’t have an image in color. It’s one of four Tiffany windows in the Salt Lake Temple. (Wikimedia Commons public domain)

***

Somehow, I missed this item when it appeared:

“Elder Stevenson Ministers to Shooting Victims in Florida: Church leaders reach out to the families of Alaina Petty and Madeleine Wilford”

I’m very pleased. I know both Elder Stevenson and Elder Klebingat somewhat, and this story only increases my respect for both of them.

***

My column in the Deseret News is but a shadow of its former self, being reduced to only twenty-six times a year rather than fifty-two, but another installment of it did manage to appear on Thursday morning:

“Has the ‘signature’ of the prophet Isaiah been found?”

***

I’m pleased to announce that a new article has just appeared in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:

“Two Notes on the Language Used in the Last Supper Accounts”

***

And don’t forget the study and teaching aids that Jeff Bradshaw continues to prepare to accompany the Gospel Doctrine curriculum:

http://interpreterfoundation.org/category/gospel-doctrine-knowhys/old-testament-knowhys/